Buns and Blogs

Behold, the image that spurred me to re-launch my hitherto untended blog. "Ham Cheese Chocolate Buns"! Yes, gentle reader, you read that right. Let's imagine how such an, erm, innovative creation evolved in the Tops supermarket bakery:

"Let's put in some ham. And cheese, too; those flavours go quite nicely together. So far, so good...but hang on, what else could we add to make this combination undeniably moreish? Oh, yes, of course! How could we not have thought of it earlier? Chocolate. Yes! That's it. A generous lashing of chocolate. What a winning trio of taste and texture! These buns will sell like hotcakes." (Hotcakes made with marzipan and anchovy paste, perhaps. -- Ed.)

Unfortunately the photo isn't very clear, but I'm lucky to have managed any shot at all, considering that a bakery staffer hustled over as soon as he saw me aim the camera. "No photos! Mai dai! Mai dai!" he exclaimed anxiously. The flash popped just as those words sputtered out of his mouth, but to respect his (or rather, Tops' corporate) wishes so that his supervisor wouldn't hear later that he let a crazy khon farang lady railroad him over snapping his lovely buns, and because I'd hate to get banned from my most convenient neighbourhood food source, I lowered the camera and took no other shots.

In Bangkok, traffic is bad enough and even Ham Cheese Chocolate Buns are not novel enough to risk banishment from the one supermarket within reasonable walking distance from my flat. There are, after all, limits to my quest for truth, justice, and the recording of Big Mango absurdity.

You may wonder, where on earth has BEM been, lo, these past 16 months? Where to start...where to start...well, I'll show you one big reason rather than tell you:

I've seen loads of blogs by women who parent, work, cook, bake, write books, take hikes, campaign against fur, run marathons, invent fantastic gadgets, knit, scrapbook, stay current with personal correspondence, and so on. Regrettably, that is so not me. Anyone who has crossed my path during any of my peripatetic life's many iterations, knows that I tend toward the slovenly. I cannot multi-task. I am a slacker. I mean well but usually forget to do nearly everything I sincerely intend to do unless it is vitally important to the immediate, urgent requirements of running my own little (messy, unorganised) home.

So when 2007 turned out to be a mad year, several things had to give, and one of them was the blog.

There's been no shortage of blog fodder, however. Funny and frustrating things about life here, our extended time in London, pregnancy, life since Boy #3 arrived, anger and despair over how the Bush administration continues to ruin and end lives in its war of choice, has dragged the U.S. into recession and built up an enormous deficit, plays the dunce about climate change (to humankind's peril), and further erodes the U.S.'s standing in the world...I could go on but I'd prefer not to end my return on a depressing note.

Hence...OBAMA '08!

Comments

[Lana]

Hey, welcome back! I saw that someone had clicked to my site from yours last week, so I clicked back and see that you've gone "live" again.

Congrats on your newest arrival!

Looking forward to reading more about your adventures in the Big Mango.

[BEM]

Thanks, Lana! It's been so long...I fear I'm shouting into a void...but as you know from experience in this region, there's just too much fodder for blogging/writing/discussing that I find myself pulled back into the blogosphere...that, and the fact that my over-worked Himself has been prodding me to start it up again because we have so little downtime together that he prefers not to spend it all listening to my "crazy life in Thailand!" anecdotes over and over again! ;)

[NOI a.t. kearney]

sawatdee ka Khun Lyle, Iain' s very cute...feel happy and he's a nice smile.